Legality in EU Common Foreign and Security Policy: The Choice of the Appropriate Legal Basis

The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the EU finds itself between exceptionalism and normalization. Because of its special position and because the legislative procedure is not applicable to this policy area, questions of legality are not usually raised in the context of CFSP. At the same time, CFSP has become a policy area to which most EU rules and principles simply apply. This chapter assesses questions of (the review of) legality in the context of CFSP. As questions of legality make sense only in the context of legal acts, this chapter will first revisit the nature of CFSP acts as well as their consequences in the light of the ‘normalization’ of CFSP. Second, questions of legality will be assessed in relation to the legal basis of CFSP acts, and in particular, the choice of legal basis and the possibility of combining CFSP and other legal bases to enhance options for legality review.